Women of Color in Tech

CHAPTER 8Job Offers and Negotiating Compensation

You've made it through all the job applications, interviews, and background checks and have received a job offer! Congratulations! Now comes the other, important part of the equation—making sure that your compensation package is fair and competitive. This chapter will cover the components that make up compensation, how to assess if an offer is a good one, and how to approach the negotiation process.

A Cautionary Tale (or, Don't Do This!)

My first professional job was as a receptionist for a start-up software-development consulting firm. I was so excited to have my first real office job with pay and benefits, and I finally felt like a grown-up!

I was offered the following:

• $35,255.39 (salary adjusted for inflation to 2019 dollars)
• Approximately 20 vacation and sick days
• Health insurance, paying roughly 20 percent of the monthly premium costs
• A share of the company's yearly profit, which they would determine based on my performance

The salary was low, but I rationalized the offer by remembering I had no other professional experience and everything else (people, location and other benefits) were good. I said yes to the offer almost immediately and started working shortly thereafter. Many years, and jobs, later, I realized that there were things I could've done differently.

First, I assumed that the employer was giving me a salary that was in line with what the job market said was fair. I incorrectly assumed that since these ...